Rudolph van Strauss Arclaim
Rudolph van Strauss Atrclaim was the king of the Humas kingdom of Victorias. He unified and led the Humas for decades. Unfortunately he was an incompetent madman who was unfit to be a ruler but no one close to could see the warning signs until it was too late. Personality When he was a boy Rudolph was a harmless and very caring boy. He was very successful in his early days as king. He set aside all his personal desires and devoted himself to being a successful king. It was his first taste of war that really changed him. To be more exact, it was witnessing the brutal death of the woman he deeply loved during that conflict that unhinged him.\ Despite being married to a beautiful woman, raising children and being a successful king, he never seemed to get any joy out of life. He was a very sad person. Like too many world leaders on his planet, he hated and mistrusted the other major races on his planet. He believed their only chance for peace was to exterminate everyone not from his own race. He only listened to the advice of those who shared his narrow-minded and paranoid world view. The fact that he sacrificed his own children was a clear indication of his insanity, He frankly didn't seem to care about the welfare of his people and left it to his ministers and the the other nobles. This created a deep system of corruption and allowing things like that black market slave system to continue. Thanks to his blind hatred and mistrust of the other races he was easily duped by the Matar Deus into launching a war. Which wound up bring his own kingdom to the brink of ruin. When he was transformed into a monster, his original personality was almost entirely suppressed. Kiria saw this as proof that he was a very weak person. Appearance Rudolph was a an in his late 40's. Though the had fought in war in his younger days, he was in poor physical condition by the end. History Rudolph grew up with his best friend Judom Lankars and a girl named Alice. Rudolph deeply loved Alice but had an arranged marriage to Maris. Since Alice seemed happy in her own life he chose not to act on his own feelings and to fulfill his expectations as a young king instead. As he became king, Alice became commander of his army, based totally on her own merits. It was the war that changed everything. Alice rushed in alone to rescue a young child which had been captured by the enemy. She succeeded is their rescue but was captured herself. Rudolph was forced to watch as she was slowly tortured to death. Rudolph returned from that battlefield covered in blood with a frightening look on his face. That was where he had truly lost is mind but Judom didn't want to recognize it until many years later. Rudolph instilled his fear of the other races, especially the Evila, amungst those serving under him and particularly in his own children. This was why they were all very willing to risk their lives to stop the Evila, believing like he told them that that the Humas could be annihilated at any time. Rudolph feared that The Humas would be destroyed sooner or later and that their hope hope was to exterminate the Evila first.. On that occasion, they used summoning magic, which had been sealed as an old magic. Because, heroes possessed an incredible magic power and could utilize physical abilities and magic unthinkable for ‘Humas’. Learning of this, Rudolph hardened his heart and asked his daughters. But the fourth and third princesses both failed and lost their lives from the 'rebound'. The second princess Farah was next in line. She managed to avoid death, but was bedridden and still unconscious at this point. That left Lilith and Rudolph as the only ones, who could use the summoning magic. As they couldn’t afford any more failures, he decided to do it himself. However, everyone was against that. Precisely the losing of the King, the buttress of the country, was what could lead to the immediate demise of the ’Humas’ by the ’Evila’. Lilith understood that and offered herself for the country and finally succeeded. Plot During the Humas-Evila conference, Rudolph revealed his true nature. Because of his hatred against Evila and the loss of his 2 daughters. He used this opportunity to make an alliance with the Gabranth to finally annihilate the Evila. However, thanks to Hiiro who made a contract with the new Demon Lord, Eveam. His plan didn't go has planned. In reality, a few months before the meeting, Kiria went to meet him and make a contract as well. It turned out that it was a plan made by the Ex-Demon Lord and so, Rudolph was merely a simple pawn. At the end, He was turned into an Evila of the Kupiedeus race by the "Demon stone" implanted in his chest. Judom tried desperately to bring him back to his senses but in vain. He then follows one of the Kiria(s) and disappears. Relationships Judom Lankars - He was Rudolph's best friend from when they were kids. After the last guild master proved to be a national disgrace, he worked his way up through the ranks and was appointed to the position. He also received permission to act with equal authority to the king in times of emergency. It was well known Judom disagreed with the way Rudolph did things, particularly his decision to sacrifice his own children to summon the heroes. Despite not listening to him, Rudolph wouldn't tolerate his advisors disrespecting Judom. At the conference Judom fiercely opposed his actions and declared him unfit as a king, something he freely admitted. It was only after the took control that Judom realized how inept a king his friend was. Judom tried to rescue his friend's family when the kingdom fell. Maris van Strauss Arclaim - Rudolph's wife who he had an arranged marriage with around the time he was crowned king. They had four daughters together. Judom doubted that Rudolph genuinely loved her at all. She was a weak-willed person easily led by her husband. An excellent example was her being convinced that sacrificing her daughters was needed for the sake of their race, When the king vanished, Maris was bedridden and unable to take responsibility and lead. The only decision she made, and a very smart one, was to appoint Judom to take charge. Lilith van Strauss Arclaim - Rudolph's oldest daughter and heir. She was the only one left after her three sisters failed in summoning the heroes. To his credit, he offered to take her place and make the attempt himself, but everyone refused to let him. The two of them shared the same birthday. After he went missing, Lilith failed to show any resolve or determination to lead, just like her mother. Farah van Strauss Arclaim - Unlike her younger sisters, she survived the failed attempt to summon the heroes. But she was in a coma and was not expected to ever wake up again. He irrationally blamed the Evila for the deaths of his daughters (rather than himself) and used that to justify the unprovoked war. Because to accept peace would be to admit he had sacrificed them when he didn't need to. When she finally woke up a year later, Farah expected to face scorn and disappointment for her failure rather than joy at her recovery. This speaks volumes about what kind of father Rudolph had been. Taishi Aoyama - One of the heroes who instantly believed the words of the king and chose to follow him without question. He even argued with Hiiro who refused to blindly obey the man who had just forcibly summoned them. He quickly learned to blindly hate and mistrust the Evilas because that's what he was instructed to do. He lost his nerve completely though when he experienced a real battlefield for the first time. People much smarter than him warned him he had only the being used by the king, but he had a hard time accepting it. Chika Suzumiya - Another hero who blindly followed the king without question. He recognized that they lacked the fortitude to be the saviors of their race despite the people's blind faith in them. So he sent them to war assuming they would die. He then planned turn them into martyrs to rally public support for a full-scale invasion. Shuri Minamoto - Unlike the other two heroes, Shuri and Shinobu were smart enough to have some doubts about the king's honesty at their first meeting. But they were so excited by the idea of visiting an RPG world and being heroes that they ignored their doubts. Upon facing real war, Shuri collapsed and couldn't even move. After learning the error of their ways, she convinced Shinobu they should surrender to the Demon Lord and accept her judgment for their misguided decisions. Shinobu Akamori - Another hero duped by the king and should have known better. After the war she was given a serious lecture by Hiiro, who pointed out all the very obvious warning signs that Rudolph could not be trusted. She could not say anything back and accepted that her judgment had been seriously faulty. Hiiro Okamura - A random person accidentally summoned along with the four heroes. This situation shocked the king and everyone else. Hiiro could tell the man was insane and untrustworthy at their first meeting, something other people were blind to or choosing to ignore. When Hiiro decided to leave, the king felt a little guilty about letting him go without doing anything for him, but Hiiro had no wish to be in his debt at all. One of the reasons Hiiro was so desperate to keep a low profile early on was because he feared that Rudolph or some other corrupt leader might force him to do their bidding. But was no longer worried about that when they finally met again. He boldly thanked Rudolph for summoning him to Edea. Rudolph was shocked that same youth had spoiled all his plans. Vale Kimble - The captain of their second army, he was in charge of training her heroes. Vale was left out of the loop when they made plans to betray the Evila at the conference and make an unprovoked attack on Xaos. During the war, Vale was left behind to guard the castle. Rudolph likely felt that Vale was too soft and would not have approved of the massacre of women and children. Dennis Norman - Rudolph's minister and advisor who had also served the previous king. Like the king, he had a blind hatred and mistrust for the other races, particularly the Evila. He did nothing but reinforce the opinions of the king and dismissed those aiming for peace as naive. Like the king, he was easily deceived by Kiria and was a part of the plot to betray the Evila. When the king became a monster, Dennis lost his nerve and couldn't even run away. He hoped the king might still recognize him. He actually seemed to, but that didn't prevent him from becoming his next meal. Teckil Shizaa - Rudolph knew Teckil under the alias Nazaar Skride, a famous artist who he and Lilith were a massive fans of. He had many of his paintings hanging in the castle. He was stunned later to find out that he was a spy and a member of the Cruel. Teckil also helped Judom foil the king's plot to hold them prisoner during the conference. Leowald King - The king of Beasts whom he made an alliance with to destroy the Evila. Rudolph offered them whatever they wanted for their help, as he needed them to bear the brunt of the fighting. Naturally, Rodolph never had any intentions of maintaining the alliance once the Evila were suppressed. Leowald no doubt felt the same. Eveam Gran Early Evening - The Demon Lord who many times offered the hand of peace to the Humas. But Rudolph refused to believe she might be any more trustworthy than her brother and went forward with his plan to summon the heroes. Eventually, he believed her desire for peace was genuine, but at the conference he berated her for being naive and idealistic. He used the loss of his daughters to justify his betrayal and the war. He hoped that losing her own friends and family in Xaos might twist her mind to his world view but she refused to give up. He later tried to have her assassinated but the plot was foiled. Portnis Gilviti - The head priestess at the Holy Oldine temple. She was thrilled when the temple was selected as the site for the conference. But he was shocked when he used the occasion to betray and entrap the Demon Lord and launch an unprovoked war. She did not bother trying to hide her disgust with the king, regarding him as unworthy to rule anyone. Kiria - The aide to the Demon Lord who visited the king in secret. She told him that she hated many members of Eveam's inner circle and wished to betray her. She also offered the help of Iraora, the person in charge of guarding the bride to the Evila Continent. Getting his help would allow them to launch a surprise attack on Xaos. He was fooled when she signed a contract to not betray him with her life as forfeit is she did. It failed to occur to him that as artificial being, only one Kiria would die and she could easily be replaced. After the plot to ,assassinate Eveam failed, she did betray Rudolph, transforming him into a monster. In the end, Kira was just an agent of the Matar Deus, seeking to use him to destabilize the world and make it easier for them to seize power in Xaos. Alice - Rudolph's childhood friend and the woman he loved. Witnessing her brutal death in a war years ago twisted his mind and he was never the same again. Abilities Though he fought in a war when he was young and survived, that was many years ago. He no longer looked like anyone capable of great fighting talent. It was said that the royal family possessed stronger magic power than the average Humas though, allowing them to perform the summoning. As an Evila, he gains the ability of the Kupiedeus race. Anything he ate allows him to obtains the powers and magic of his "meal". He can also shapes his appearance according to the strongest individual's existence. Trivia *He and Lilith share a birthday. Category:Male Characters Category:Characters Category:Humas Category:Royality